Allura (Legendary Defender)
Allura was the princess of the formerly-extinct Planet Altea. She assisted her father in his war counsel, commanded the Castle of Lions in the fight against Zarkon, and formerly piloted the Blue Lion until her death. She was a formidable combatant, stategist, speaker, alchemist, and the last Sacred Alteans: once revered for their ability to channel and manipulate Quintessence. Allura was the face of the resistance against the Galra and stopped at nothing to bring peace and balance throughout the Universe, even at the expense of her own life. Appearance Allura is a female Altean. She has an active, leggy physique and waist-length, voluptuous white hair. The only visible features distinguishing her from a human are her down-turned elfish ears. Her skin tone is nut brown, her eyes are galaxy blue with purple pupils, and her Altean marks are pink. Allura is first seen wearing her ankle-length Altean gown. The dress has a sky blue bodice, a white skirt and a knee-length pink cape; all accented with gold. The bodice has a sweetheart neckline and ends in a "V" shape at her waist. The skirt has a pink hem and a pale blue stripe down the front. The dress has long blue sleeves, as well as white puff sleeves attached to a white undershirt. Allura's main outfit - her combat attire - is a white bodysuit with black areas on her midsection and thighs. The suit comes with a tapered blue belt, shoes, and clunky wristguards. Pink accents are located on the collar, above her ribs, separating the white and black on her thighs, and under her kneepads. She has a pink "V" shape on her chest to represent Voltron. Allura wears her hair in a messy bun during battle. Once at the Garrison after the Fire of Purification's invasion of Earth, Allura wore a custom Galaxy Garrison senior cadet uniform. It was a white coat with a mandarin collar, pink chest and sleeves, buttoning up near the right breast pocket. It had a black belt with the Voltron 'V' on the buckle and two gold stripes acknowledging her rank as Princess. For her date with Lance, Allura wore a pale pink, knee-length dress with a notch neckline and three quarter length tulip sleeves. She acessorised with a slim brown belt with a gold, diamond-shaped buckle, and gold leaf-shaped earrings. Allura in the alternative reality Honerva visited was physically the same with a few exceptions: she wore her hair in a long braid Biography Pre-Series When Altea was attacked by Zarkon's Galra Empire 10,000 years ago, Allura's father, King Alfor, chose to hide the Voltron lions and Allura, rather than have Voltron formed to battle their enemy as Allura suggested. Sadly, Altea was ultimately lost as a result, with only the six residents of the Castle of Lions being known to survive the tragedy. After her father lulled her to sleep, she was placed in a sleeping pod where she spent the next ten millennia in stasis. Season 1 Allura is first seen in her sleeping pod when she is awakened by the future Paladins of Voltron, Shiro, Keith, Lance, Pidge and Hunk. She falls out of the pod and into Lance's arms. After she pins him down she questions the other paladins on their identities. After revealing hers Allura checks the castle only to find that she and Coran have been asleep for 10,000 years and that Altea and its neighboring planets have all been destroyed by Zarkon. After learning that Zarkon is still alive and has amassed a ginormous empire she assigns and tasks the new paladins of Voltron to locate and pilot the 5 Voltron Lions. She along with Coran, provide support from the Castle itself. In "Some Assembly Required", Allura is first seen testing the security system of the castle, and uses the alarm test as an opportunity to test the new Paladins, to which she is upset when they fail. She assigns the Paladins to attempt to recreate Voltron, and uses the castle's defenses to spur them into action. Later she admonishes them for taking a break when they should be trying to reform Voltron once more. At the dinner table, she is involved in a food fight with the paladins, where she is pleased to learn that they are now working together. Season 2 After Haggar's Komar device sent the paladins flying through the universe, the Castle of Lions was trapped in a time loop where Allura was unaffected, but Coran and the mice were. Before Coran's erasure from existence, Pidge was able to activate a homing beacon, and this allowed Allura to create a stable wormhole out of the loop. With that, Coran and the mice returned to normal. After getting Shiro into a healing chamber, the Black Paladin's returning memories allowed him to recall hidden coordinates in his Galra prosthesis to locate a Blade of Marmora base, where Ulaz who freed Shiro was. Allura instinctively distrusted him for his being Galra, given all that has happened to her people. And with the arrival of Prorok's RoBeast, the distrust grew even further, unsurprised when seeing Ulaz flee. But with Ulaz's sacrifice to save them, Allura partly felt the concern the Paladins had, but still held some strong reservations about trusting a Galra rebel group like the Blades. Season 3 After the fight with Zarkon, Shiro disappeared. While Keith searched for Shiro, Allura contacted the leader of a planet they freed previously, in an attempt to reform the coalition. After Keith bonded with the black lion she tried to form a bond with the red lion but failed, (making her upset, as red had been her father's lion). When Lance is unable to access to his blue lion and subsequently bonds with the red lion, Allura makes a bond with the blue lion. Season 4 TBA Season 5 TBA Season 6 TBA Season 7 TBA Season 8 Allura in Season 8 is determined to save the universe from Honerva and fights alongside the other paladins. Her relationship with Lance becomes romantic and the two kiss multiple times throughout the season. At the end, Allura learns that she must sacrifice herself for the sake of all realities. After bidding the paladins farewell, she willingly makes the ultimate sacrifice. Afterwards, the paladins and Coran spread her message and tell Allura's story throughout a now peaceful universe. Personality Being a member of the Altean Royal Family, Allura was known for her commanding attitude towards the Paladins, her serious demeanor and occasionally playful personality. However, she did have a deep-seated bitterness; Zarkon was the focal point of Allura's rage and suffering because of his betrayal of her and her family that resulted in the murder of her father, her entire race, and the destruction of her home planet. Allura's raw hatred of Zarkon was unnerving to behold for those more familiar with her more compassionate side, and her bloody history with the Galra has fostered in her a severe hatred and distrust of their race. This comes to the forefront upon learning of Keith's revelation that he is part Galra. She becomes severely conflicted and begins coldly shunning him. However, in due time, Allura realized that Keith has more than proven his good heart and rightful place on the team, which Allura considers to be her new-found family, and she reaffirms her trust in him by apologizing for her misjudgment. Allura was a very caring and altruistic individual who wants to do right by the people of the galaxy and was incredibly committed to her diplomatic and military duties as the daughter of the king, and appears to define her mission by the same standards and care that her father did. Allura greatly admired her father and misses him, and tries very hard to take up the mantle of leadership in his stead. She is very intelligent in dangerous situations, shown when she absorbed a dark entity extracted from another Altean (though she was haunted with visions of Lance, Lotor, and Melenor to do it) and decided to use it to access Honerva’s mind via hers. She maintained a deferential attitude towards her father's hologram until its destruction, despite the mantle of leadership having passed to her. Allura possessed an incredible force of will, able to sacrifice her father's artificial intelligence, and with it her last connection to the king and parent she so deeply admired and loved. She is even willing to give her own life, which she did to restore all realities in the series finale. This showed just how much she was willing to give up in order to complete her mission, she was also able to mutilate her own emotions in the interests of peace and defeating her enemies. When pushed to her limits, Allura gives in to a rage-fueled brutality, and her dark side completely takes over. For example, during Season 6, after finding about Lotor‘s true intentions, she angrily knocks him out, due to having a loving relationship with him. She later compared him to his father and even agrees about abandoning him in the Quintessence field despite initially conflicted by said decision. In Season 8, she attempts to kill Honerva out of pure anger, but fails when Honerva anticipates this and temporarily puts her mind into a void, causing her to miss. Sometimes, Allura blatantly gives in to darkness, shown when she battles a figure in Honerva’s subconscious, and attempts to kill him with her eyes and hands radiating with black energy, presumably dark Quintessence. However, she did not know it was the original Blue Paladin, but she still believed it to be a ruse even after finding out. Abilities and Equipment *'Expert hand-to-hand combatant:' As an Altean of royal blood, Allura is incredibly well trained in combat, calling the first gladiator simulator that the Paladins fought as fit for an Altean child. *'Empathic Nature:' Allura's empathetic and kind nature extends to her abilities, allowing her to tap into her own life force and use it to communicate with and heal the Balmera, something that only more experienced Alteans could do. She also passively developed an empathic mental bond with the mice who shared her cryo pod, the exposure to her mind and memories augmenting their intelligence and allowing them to mentally communicate even when physically separated. *'Quintessence Manipulation:' Her ability to absorb and channel quintessence is so powerful that she survived using the Castle Ship to amplify her power to restore life to the Balmera, something that Coran was doubtful of her surviving. *'Altean Physiology:' Like other Alteans, she possesses a natural, though somewhat limited ability to shapeshift. She impersonated a Galra soldier, changing her normally brown skin to violet & growing much taller (even dwarfing Shiro) in order to fool the guards on one of Zarkon's ships. As an Altean, it possible she has a lengthy lifespan, but her exact age is not known. **'Enhanced Strength:' While impersonating a Galran soldier, Allura exhibited prodigious strength, hurling Sentries and Shiro alike with a single arm. Whether she must mimic other species to gain this strength or can increase her strength without actually shapeshifting is unknown, as she has not exhibited this level of strength since. *'Magical Abilities:' Like Haggar, Allura is gifted with latent abilities to manipulate magical energy. During her duel with Haggar on board Zarkon's command ship Allura's magical abilities were unlocked by the repeated blasts of mystical energy she endured, effectively jump starting them like an electrical current, allowing her to duel Haggar to a standstill. Despite her relative inexperience with her magic, Allura is clearly incredibly powerful, as her raw might alone was enough to frighten and match the elder Altean sorceress. Her first hint of magical power was her ability to see through Haggar's illusions. Allura's powers were greatly enhanced by her newly found alchemical knowledge. Not only was she capable of restoring Lance from near-death after he took a blast from a solar flare, but even more impressively, Allura proved herself capable of consciousness transfer. She did this by transferring Shiro's consciousness from the Black Lion into the body of his clone puppet. The process was quite intense, and the physical tole it took was so great that it turned the rest of Shiro's hair white. *'Expert Pilot:' Allura's timely intervention while piloting the Castle of Lions (with or without Coran's help) has saved the team several times. Her quick thinking and strategic intelligence allows her to engage far more powerful or numerous enemies, tipping battles in the team's favor or buying enough time to devise a strategy. While she initially struggled to pilot the Blue Lion, she learned quickly, unlocking several special abilities in a much shorter time than Lance. *'Altean Alchemy:' After Lotor defeats Zarkon, it is revealed that Lotor is searching for the fabled ancient Altean land Oriande. Lotor, and Allura are shown to bear the marks of the chosen, proving themselves worthy to enter Oriande. In the fight against the white lion Allura gives herself to the lion, proving herself worthy. Allura is given the same secrets her father was, and now posses the same knowledge Alfor used when creating Voltron. *'Blue Bayard:' She can turn her bayard in a Whip sword similar to the one Zarkon created in his first fight with Shiro and Keith. This can be use on a sword or Whips capable to cut, immobilizing enemy's, and can extend being used like a mid-distance projectile and later on a spear. Notes * Allura's exact age is unknown. She has been described as being a "teenager" by series staff and merchandise.Joaquim Dos Santos, Wonder-Con 2017The Rise of Voltron BookThe Paladin's Handbook Due to Coran's age being at least 600 years old,Coran's age proving the long lifespan of Alteans, it is not known if Allura is truly 19 years old or younger, or simply the Altean equivalent of a human teenager. ** Allura claims she has flown the Castleship for half of her life. If she is 19 or younger, then she would have flown the Castleship at about 9 years old. **Although she has existed for at least ten thousand years, Allura has not aged mentally nor physically because she had been in a stasis sleep and did not consciously experience that span of time. ** Kova is 28 deca-phoebs old when Honerva and Zarkon enter the rift on Daibazaal, and Allura was born after Kova. The Paladin's Handbook translates deca-phoebs to years; if the guidebook is accurate, and no significant time passed between Daibazaal's destruction and Allura's stasis, then Allura is no more than 28 years old. ** Allura was born before Lotor, but because she was put in a stasis sleep for 10,000 years and he instead experienced those 10,000 years' worth of time, Lotor is older than her. *Allura's Legendary Defender iteration is the first incarnation of the character who died at the series' final unlike her previous counterparts, a change which sparked controversy among fans. References Category:Voltron: Legendary Defender characters Category:Characters Category:Altean Category:Paladins Category:Females Category:Voltron Coalition Category:Deceased